Prompt Appropriate Action In Response To Coworkers’ Racial Harassment Relieves Employer Of Liability

Travis Williams sued his former employer, Waste Management of Illinois, Inc., for race-based harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The district court granted Waste Management's summary-judgment motion, and the 7th Circuit affirmed:

Williams alleges that his coworkers, Cleeton and Beckum, created a hostile work environment through their racebased words and actions, in violation of Title VII. To survive a summary-judgment motion, an employee alleging racial harassment must show: (1) he was subject to unwelcome harassment; (2) the harassment was based on his race; (3) the harassment was severe or pervasive so as to alter the conditions of the employee's work environment by creating a hostile or abusive situation; and (4) there is a basis for employer liability. After the Supreme Court's decisions in Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth, and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, we evaluate the fourth prong regarding the basis for employer liability differently depending on whether the alleged harassment was perpetrated by supervisors or coworkers. Employers are strictly liable for harassment inflicted by supervisors, subject to an affirmative defense when the harassment does not result in a tangible employment action. When a plaintiff, like Williams, claims coworkers alone were responsible for creating a hostile work environment, he must show that his employer has "been negligent either in discovering or remedying the harassment." Put differently, "the employer can avoid liability for its employees' harassment if it takes prompt and appropriate corrective action reasonably likely to prevent the harassment from recurring."

The district court made no findings as to the first three elements of Williams's hostile environment claim, focusing instead on the company's response to his complaint. It found, as do we, that Waste Management took prompt, appropriate corrective action when informed of Williams's complaint, relieving it from liability under the statute.

Williams v. Waste Mgmt. of Illinois, Inc.

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The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

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